


Managerie

by WayfaringFool



Category: RWBY
Genre: Childhood, Childhood Trauma, Children, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-05-26 01:20:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14989643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WayfaringFool/pseuds/WayfaringFool
Summary: When an outbreak of grimm plagues Vale, the huntsmen and huntresses all act immediately. However, the grimm were too strong. Most of the hunters did not return; to keep the grimm under control many, many lives were lost. This led to hundreds of now orphaned children. Kali and Ghira Belladonna took it upon themselves to adopt 20 children, this is the story.





	1. Fallen

**Author's Note:**

> This is not a ship fanfic this is just all family oriented.   
> also Qrow is Ruby's dad in the Au and Ozpin is Oscar's dad in the au.

The air was sterile and void of life. Thousands of huntsmen and huntresses perished under Salem's hand in one night. The grimm were under control now, it had been that way for hours but many huntresses and huntsmen are still unaccounted for. Qrow felt his stomach churn, he was handed a list of now orphaned children that had no where to go. One of those children was his own daughter, Ruby. Qrow's wife, Summer Rose, was killed by Salem and all Qrow could do was hold back the tears. Qrow couldn't take care of Ruby by himself let alone take care of his niece Yang. Qrow's semblance made him unable to be a single parent. He looked over his shoulder to see the four year old firecracker holding her two year old "sister" who was napping peacefully. Yang knew Ruby wasn't her real sister but she gave her the title and loved her like one anyhow. The two toddlers were all Qrow had left.

Ozpin was sitting across from Qrow at his desk. Ozpin was holding his son Oscar as he was reading something on his scroll. The two men knew they couldn't take care of these kids although they would want too; it was too dangerous for the children to grow up like that, it would be unfair to them. A sniffle from Yang alerted Qrow to Yang's understanding of the event; first it was her mom and then her dad left her too. 

"Daddy's not coming back, is he." Yang sniffed. Qrow froze; what could he say to his niece to make her feel better. He knew if he sugar-coated it, Yang would find out.

"Sorry Firecracker, I don't think your daddy's coming back." Qrow admitted.

"Why does no one love me, Uncle Qrow." Yang asked whipping the tears off her face. "If mommy and daddy loved me they wouldn't have left."

"Yang, your dad loved you more than anything else, don't forget that." Ozpin chimed in. Qrow got up from the desk and knelt down to Yang's level. 

"C'mere," Qrow held his arms out to the girl; in response the toddler set her sleeping sister down and allowed herself to be held." After an hour or so of letting Yang cry on his shoulder the toddler feel asleep. Qrow carried Yang to a separate room with a couch; he set her down and unclipped his cape and draped it over the sleeping toddler. Qrow walked back to the other room only to find Ruby had woken up crying.

"Hey there baby bird, no more crying dadda's here." Qrow said as he picked up his daughter; just as he had done with Yang he let his daughter cry on his shoulder. When she was done he had taken Ruby to the same room as Yang; setting her down next to her sleeping "sister".

"Goodnight, Dragon; goodnight Birdie," Qrow said and turned to leave only to see that Ozpin was in the doorway with a sleeping baby Oscar. Oscar was set down next to the sleeping girls. As the two men left the room, Ozpin's scroll buzzed. With a brief pause, the man picked up the scroll and simply said "Thank You."  
Putting the scroll down he looked to Qrow and said "The chief of Managerie has come forward to take care of them." 

Qrow let out a sigh of great relief and commented. "Oscar's gonna have to get used to Yang calling him her brother."  
The two men chuckled in relief.


	2. Belladonna

Two days later

The Belladonna family had arrived at Ozpin's office. Ghira and Kali Belladonna were sitting next to each other with their daughter, Blake, in Kali's lap. Ozpin had called Qrow to the desk to discuss the issue on the table.

"You know exactly what your getting into, correct?" Ozpin asked in an almost condescending manner.

"You want us to take care of your three children to give them a fair childhood." Ghira answered. "But in taking in these three children, we might be candidates for fostering other children who don't have families. Yes, we know exactly what we signed up for." 

"Then we don't have a problem." Ozpin paused, "would you like to meet the children?"   
Qrow went to fetch the children when the family spoke up.

"Actually, we have one condition; our condition is that you two find some way to be apart of these children's lives." Kali stated. In response Ozpin simply nodded. " We can work something out." Ozpin agreed.

meanwhile

"Yang, dragon where are you?" Qrow called for the toddler searching in adjacent rooms. Ruby and Oscar were no where to be found, meaning that Yang must have taken them with her as one couldn't walk at all and the other was barely able to walk three feet without falling. Qrow continued his search until he heard a meek yet pouting voice declaring "Yang's not here, she went home!"  
Qrow was able to find the source of the voice by glancing in the direction of a table with a sheet that seemed extremely out of place. Sure enough upon further investigation the blonde toddler, the silver eyed toddler, and the green eyed baby were found under the table covered in blankets and pillows making up a makeshift fort. Yang's eyes were red in anger and Ruby looked more pouty than normal. Ruby needs a nap, Qrow thought. Yang's anger was very clearly directed at him, she knew what was going to happen.

"You're gonna leave us too, aren't you?!" Yang lashed out a tears streaming down her face.

"I'm not going to leave you forever, I'll come back to visit." Qrow reassured, " I promise."  
Yang had no reason to believe him everyone else that told her that had lied. Somehow in some way Yang was able to find it in herself to believe him.

"Pinky Promise?" Yang stuck out her pinky finger to which Qrow obliged. "Pinky Promise."

The blonde four year old got out from under the table and held Qrow's hand. Qrow's daughter waddled out from under the table with a pouty walk and dragged the blanket the baby was sitting on. Despite the two grumpy toddlers, Oscar was completely content with sucking on his hand like a lollipop.

"You're going to be nice to your new family, right." Qrow asked Yang. "I'll try." Yang retorted.  
A couple more steps later, Ruby nearly fell but caught herself on her dad's hand and held it whilst sucking her thumb with the other hand. When the group finally made it to the room they were greeted by a faunus toddler trying to sneak up on a fly. As the door opened the little cat girl ran back to her papa who only chuckled at the girl's shyness. Kali Belladonna gave the three children a little playful wave. 

Ghira greeted. "Hello little ones, how are you." The cat faunus knelt down to meet the children's level.

"Go on," Qrow said as he too knelt down. With her Uncle Qrow's permission, Yang walked slowly towards the faunus and gave a single little wave. Kali Belladonna went to her husband with little Blake following closely behind her.

"Hello there sweet heart, what's your name." Kali asked the toddler in a way that wouldn't scare her.

"I'm Yang and those two are my brother and sister." Yang introduced as she pointed to her younger "siblings". "I'm their big sister."

The couple continued to talk to Yang which coaxed her closer and closer to the family, when a little whisper like voice introduced itself. Blake was clinging to her father's coat which prompted him to ask the girl.

"Do you want to say hi, Blake." Ghira asked in a king reassuring voice. The little four year old faunus peeked from behind her father and said. "Hi Yang, I'm Blake."


	3. Adjusting

The air ship hummed with a steady tune.   
The children were fast asleep as the ship made its descent in Managerie. Not wanting to wake up three toddlers and a baby, Ghira opted to carry Yang and Blake and Kali chose to carry Oscar and Ruby. As they walked by, a number of other faunus stared at the sight of three human children being carried by the chief of Managerie. Some faunus even glared at the family, but that didn't matter, not right now at least. 

When they made it home, Ghira walked directly to what used to be Blake's room alone. The Belladonna's made a lot of changes on such short notice for one Blake's room was now going to be shared with her, Yang, and Ruby. Blake's bed was the bottom bunk of a bunk bed with a collection of children's books scattered about. Ghira set his daughter down on the bed then climbed up the ladder to set Yang down on her new bed. Yang's belongings were in a bag that now hung off the side of the bed frame. Yang was tucked in just like Blake, because to Ghira they were both equally his daughters. Kali came into the room a little later because Oscar was given a crib in another room. Ruby was tucked in and all was quiet, save for the times Oscar woke up crying. 

days later

Yang was always extremely moody. For the past couple days, Yang didn't talk much and kept to herself. The Belladonna's conceded to the idea of giving her space and alone time. Ruby wasn't moody but she would periodically ask "Where's Dada?" When she didn't get an answer she would cry. Oscar was to young to fully understand and would sometimes cry for extended periods of time other than that he ceded his trust to the family. Ruby and Oscar were laying on the couch for a nap next to Kali. Kali decided to watch nap while she did some light reading. Behind her a little kitten was watching her mama, wanting to ask her a question. 

"Mama, do you think me and Yang could be friends?" Blake whispered from behind. Kali put her book down and gestured to Blake to come to her. The four year old faunus walked over to her mom to sit on her lap.

"Well Blake, I think you and Yang can be one better." Kali said to her daughter. "You and Yang can be sisters." Blake's eyes lit up, it must have been one of best things she heard all week. "But I think you need to give Yang some time to adjust, Honey."

So Blake waited. In the mornings when they were eating breakfast Blake would wave to Yang. When it was bedtime Blake would say goodnight to her. Blake gave her all the time she needed.

One week later

Kali and Ghira were discussing how to tell the rest of Managerie about the fact they adopted three human children. They were stopped when Blake entered the room. "Blake, what's wrong, honey?" Kali asked kneeling down. Blake didn't answer but she grabbed her mama's sleeve and led her to the problem. Kali was shocked to see Yang breaking down next to a broom closet.

"Oh you poor thing," Kali knelt down and embraced the girl. The four year old flinched, she didn't think she wanted a hug but she needed one. She didn't hug back...she didn't want to hug back...If she hugged back...they would leave too...and she would be alone again. Ghira followed his daughter and wife to find the broken down toddler. Without saying a single word he knelt down to hug his adopted daughter and Blake followed suit. Yang sobbed into Ghira's shoulder prompting him to say,"I know...I know, sweetheart...Its okay."  
Yang didn't know how to respond, she didn't know what to do at all. The crying four year old cried out, "I DON'T WANT TO BE THE BIG SISTER ANYMORE!" Ghira and Kali looked at each other, their daughter was struggling this whole time and they believed she just needed time. Before Ghira or Kali could say anything, Blake spoke up. "We can be big sisters together.".................Yang didn't want to hug back............Yang couldn't hug back...............Yang couldn't allow herself to hug back.................................................................... Yang finally chose to hug back. It was going to hurt, it was going to be hard, but it was going to save her and she would be free again. 

Yang's sobbing gradually softened to whimpers and finally allowed herself to be consoled. It didn't come all at once but day by day, Yang was able to become more trusting. She eventually found it in her heart to tell herself that they weren't going to leave her and she wasn't going to leave them either.

The little sun dragon was finally home in a family of black cats.


	4. Onesies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is kind of just a foreshadowing chapter. OWO

Ghira couldn't believe what he was seeing. One minute ago he was reading the news, the next minute his kids are running around in animal onesies. Blake was helping Yang build a pillow fort using the couch. Blake was dressed as a purple cat (big surprise) with a plush tail that hung loosely off the onesie. The hood of Blake's onesie stayed on her head due to her cat ears. It seemed that every time Blake set something up Yang would knock it down following it up with a roar. Yang was dressed as a yellow dragon complete with wings on the back and horns on the hood. Kali watched the chaos as she dressed Ruby up in a crow onesie, giggling as Ruby began to be fussy for wanting to join the madness. At the moment she let the two year old down, she began to toddle to catch up to Yang and Blake; only resulting in her falling of Ghira's leg for her lack of balance. After a little while longer of Ruby waddling after Blake and Yang she sat down and began to pout. To which Ghira stood up and picked up the fussy toddler. 

"Hello, little bird." Ghira coddled the little girl who still only huffed. Ghira set the girl on his shoulders and began to run around the house after the two four year old girls. Ruby's fussiness subsided when she started pretending to fly. 

"Wow! Ruby you're flying!" Yang cheered as she clung to Ghira's leg. "Hahaha, Yeah Ruby!" Blake added standing in front of her papa. 

"Girls, do you want to watch a movie?" Kali teased from the other room. The girls didn't answer, instead opting to dash to the other room Ghira trailing behind slowly. The moment he made it back to the room with the TV Oscar crawled to Ghira's feet dressed as a puppy; holding his arms up so Ghira would carry him. Before the movie played on the channel it was interrupted by a breaking news story that made him feel completely disgusted.

"We Interrupt your program with live news coverage from the Schnee Dust Company building where Jacques Schnee is suspected of three accounts of child abuse and several accounts of illegal faunus trafficking."

Kali's scroll rings and she doesn't hesitate to pick it up.

"Hello...Yes, I've heard...Of course... we'd love to...Yes, we can take all three...Thank you." Kali says. "Ghira, we're going to foster the three Schnee children."

"No we're not...We're adopting them." Ghira corrects.


	5. Broken Snowflake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Moar angst coming after this chapter

In the early hours of mourning, just before dawn, Ghira's scroll rang. He was already awake, he couldn't sleep a wink after what he heard on the news.

"Good Mourning...Yes...Ok...Thank you." Ghira said after a series of pauses. The faunus breathed out a heavy sigh and a tired expression fell on his features. A silent interlude fell over the whole house until a tiny yawn reached Ghira's ears. Ghira turned around to find the owner of the yawn only to find the silver haired toddler somehow toddled her way out of bed and into the front room in her crow onesie. 

"Good morning, little bird," Ghira yawned. "I'm sorry, did I wake you?"

Ruby raised her hands up; signaling to Ghira to carry her. To which Ghira corrected "Use your words, Ruby."

"Up, Up, pwease." Ruby hopped up and down to illustrate her point. Ghira, despite being physically fatigued, obliged; lifting the silver eyed toddler into his arms. He walked around the room until Ruby fell asleep, he then sat on the couch and fell asleep in a matter of minutes. The two were asleep until noon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
A couple hours after Ghira and Ruby woke up, a knock on the door signaled a very important visitor. 

"Children, lets go outside to play for a little." Kali rallied the children to her. The back door was opened and the children ran out in obedience. The front door opened and James Ironwood stepped in. The house was now almost completely quiet with the two men who were seated at a table on the opposite ends of each other. The two went through files upon files regarding the Schnee children and what to expect from them. The days that followed this event were made in preparation for the arrival of the Schnee children.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ironwood's ship appeared in the early hours of night. The general stepped out of the ship followed by an eight year old and a toddler holding a baby. Winter held Wiess's free hand as the group walked down the streets of Managerie. As the group was let inside the house and as the Belladonna family greeted them, it was all too obvious that it was too much for a certain white haired three year old. Wiess began to have a meltdown, and no one rightly knew why.


	6. The fall of Jacques Schnee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took so long. oAo

A couple days prior

Father was angry again. His yells were loud enough to be heard throughout the mansion. As per normal Weiss was alone again. Winter had fencing practice and Whitley was in the nursery. The three year old hid under her bed as her father's screaming in the other room shook the thin walls of her room. She slowed her breaths to sound just a little quieter. If she was too loud than father would hurt her again. The door next to her room slammed loudly and the yelling got even louder as footsteps came towards her door. The door to Weiss's room slammed open and her father stood in the doorway. Despite Weiss's best efforts, she wasn't quiet enough causing her father to grab her from under the bed and yank her out in the open. She tried to run past her father so she could go get Klein but her father's opposing figure in the doorway stopped her. Weiss noticed that her Father had a key in his hand but still attempted escape. Jacques lunged at his daughter using the key as a makeshift knife...

A sharp pain over came the three year old and blood started to wash over her left eye. Father was angry. She let out a painful scream that alerted Klein. He sprinted to the little girl's room and came across the sight of the young Schnee on the ground. 

Jacques basically screamed at Klein "DON'T YOU DARE SPEAK OF THIS!"

Klein waited for the hellish man to leave the room and the chose to call the police. This was the final straw. Weiss clung to Klein's vest whimpering in pain as the police and the ambulance showed up. Jacques cursed as he was taken into custody, the fact that his daughter was cut on the left eye with a key and Jacques had the very same key on his desk with his prints on it was enough to take him in. The nail in the coffin marking the fall of Jacques Schnee.

Weiss's aura was young and weak so she was left with a temporary eye patch from the hospital. The Schnee children were waiting less than three days until someone came forward to adopt them. Despite this, the three year old girl did not believe her ordeal was over. To her the yelling would continue, her siblings would still be distant and away from her, and her loneliness would continue forever. Her monsters under her bed left to haunt her and the monsters in her head left to remind her of her own walk through hell. Weiss accepted this.

A few days later and the Schnee children were walking down the streets of Managerie with General Ironwood. Weiss looked around the streets and only noticed faunus with confused looks and angry glares. Her father always hated faunus and he would say as much whenever Weiss did anything that was wrong in his eyes. Calling her a filthy faunus or a disgusting faunus child. She always thought that they were disgusting like her father said, but when she looked around she saw people that looked like her. They had animalistic features that caught people's eyes and she had an eye patch covering her entire left eye. They were just like her in a way, the way that normal looking people would stare at. Upon entering the new house Weiss was shocked. The little girl expected to see cold unloving faces like those of her father and mother; instead she was met with a warm smile on the face of her new mother that made her feel like the sun. Her new father was much bigger than her father or General Ironwood but somehow it made her feel more comforted around him. In a way he kind of reminded her of Klein. Near them were two little girls around her age who were waving at her. The taller one had a big cocky but welcoming smile while the other girl had a softer more reserved smile. She liked them a lot. Other than them their was a little baby boy with lovely green eyes who probably didn't know what was going on, and a little girl who was maybe just a little bit younger than her with red tipped hair. She liked them a lot too.

When she began to have a meltdown pushing everyone away from her while she sobbed. She didn't expect any other outcome than other times she melted down. To her surprise she was lead to a quiet part of the room where she could wait this all out. It took quite awhile but she eventually calmed down. Her new father then extended his hand to her and led her to her room with the other three girls.

This was home.


End file.
